SOLIDAR ECONOMY IN AQUÍCOLA PRODUTIVES CONDOMINIUMS: a more sustainable path to overcome the challenges faced by dam-affected people
Associativism. Sustainable Rural Development. Family Fish Farming. São Francisco River.
The research arises from the need to understand the economic, social, cultural and environmental organization around the fish farming activity in the lakes of the São Francisco River in Pernambuco, located in the Semiarid Region. Local fish farming is related to the productive and economic expansion that the activity has registered in the last decade, which reflects on the GDP of municipalities that had areas submerged by flooding caused by dams and other impactful interventions incited by the State. We know that the regional agricultural and livestock economic base – originating from traditional activities, such as goat farming and horticulture – suffers from limitations or drops in production, primarily due to climatic factors, area and land ownership, chain disorganization or disregard for sustainable perspectives. Thus, the investigation aims to analyze fish farming with a view to the existing relationships between social and environmental environments, since fish farmers organized in a solidarity economy and inserted in family farming policies conduct the action. To this end, systematic closed questionnaires were applied to subjects affected by the dam, based on issues of economy, society, culture and environment. Semi-structured interviews were also carried out about the perception of the subjects about their daily lives, as well as the social and economic manifestations, which contributed to the construction of the productive arrangement of fish farming. The data were treated as quali-quantitative indicators, in order to interpret the reality presented, respecting the individuality and preserving the anonymity of the participants. Furthermore, it was possible to observe the singularity of the actors' interactions with the social, cultural, economic and environmental universe that integrates them. The socioeconomic consequences arising from the implementation of the activity were identified, as well as the determining factors for the implementation of compensatory actions for the displaced populations, in addition to the strategies of adaptation of those affected to the new spaces of social reproduction. It was concluded that the activity enables the interaction between the actors that develop it from traditional knowledge inherent to the peasant people, guiding forms of socioeconomic subsistence in the locality. However, as a "final product", an operational technical manual was developed that allows the replication of the assisted experience – regarding its organization and principles – in other locations affected by compulsory displacement due to the flooding of territories, presenting, above all, an effective tool for coexistence with the semiarid region.